State of the Venture Capital Industry in 2019 (HubSpot)

Summary

• Global venture capital funding reached $254 billion across approximately 18,000 startups in 2018, representing a 46% increase from 2017.p.4
• Despite growing total investment volume, global deal count has declined since peaking at 20,000 deals in 2015.p.6
• Corporate venture capital participation surged to almost $50 billion in Q2 2018, up from $848 million in Q3 2001.p.12
• VC funds returned over $300 billion to investors from exits in 2018 alone.p.18
• The number of global private unicorns expanded from 82 in 2015 to 356 in Q2 2019.p.24

Key insights

1. The survival rate of startups from Seed to Series A has dropped to less than 4%.p.9
2. The median size of US Series A rounds expanded by 167% from $3 million in 2011 to $8 million in 2018.p.9
3. 72% of sovereign wealth funds now participate directly in venture capital deals.p.12
4. Companies backed by corporate venture capital units commanded valuations 2.5x higher than those without corporate backers in 2018.p.14
5. Just 36% of unicorn investors control 75% of all unicorn investments worldwide.p.22
6. Europe shows an imbalance in micro VC deployment, representing only 11% of global micro funds compared to 22% of larger funds.p.26
7. Private SaaS company EV/revenue multiples grew by 130% since 2011, compared to a 36% expansion in public markets.p.28